Further Education Lecturer careers guide and job profile – Get Into Teaching

If you have real-world industry experience, you already have what it takes to teach in further education (FE). Plus, you don’t always need teaching experience or an academic degree to get started. You can complete any required teaching qualifications once in your role.

Further Education Lecturers can teach alongside their job because it’s very flexible. Your job will be to teach students of all ages. Further Education means any post-16 qualification such as apprenticeships, but you’ll also work with younger students taking vocational courses.

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Useful skills to put in your CV:

• Creativity – this will help you design activities that are fun, inspirational and educational
• Sensitivity and understanding (learning can be hard for some more than others, and you’ll need to build their self-belief)
• To be able to create a positive learning environment
• Teamwork (you’ll need to work well with your students and other teachers)
• Patience and a cool, calm head to manage students and cope with any challenging behaviour
• Excellent communication skills (you’ll need to be able to build good relationships with students, parents and other teachers)
• IT skills (many schools now use software and digital tools for registers, accessing resources, and showing visual learning materials on a smart board)
• Self-management (you’ll need to keep track of your lessons and be responsible for all the students you teach)

Top Skills-boosting Tip

Use every opportunity to practise teaching others, whatever age they are. Help younger family members with their homework and projects, help your friends with studying, or teach anyone you know something new you find interesting. People have different ways they learn best, and you’ll build your ability to communicate, present and adapt.

How Do You Get These Skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

Build Your Skills With the FREE Young Professional Programme

School and training

You can get into this job through:

• a university course
• a college course
• an apprenticeship
• working towards this role

Your CV can really shine if you have extra qualifications in youth work or experience of working with young people, although it’s not required.

You will also need to pass enhanced background checks to prove you are safe to work with and safeguard young people.

College

You could do a teaching qualification at college. Qualifications include:

• Certificate in Education (Cert Ed)
• Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training
• Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training with a specialist pathway for teaching literacy, numeracy, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), or teaching disabled learners

Employers will also expect you to have experience or a qualification in the subject you want to teach.

You can also get qualified teacher learning and skills status while you work if you have a level 5 teaching qualification or above.

BTECs

As an alternative to A-Levels, you can do BTECs from the age of 16. There are a number of BTEC subjects you might want to consider if you are interested in becoming a Further Education Lecturer.

Any subjects relevant to what you want to teach will help you build the knowledge and skills you need.

You’ll normally need 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9-3 (A*-D) or equivalent for a Level 2 or 3 course. If your qualifications are lower than this, you’ll most likely start on a Level 1 course.

A-Levels

A Levels are academic qualifications that come after GCSEs. A Levels can be an ideal stepping stone to an advanced apprenticeship, a degree, a job, or going straight into a freelance career.

You’ll normally need GCSEs at grade 4 (C) or above in English and Maths (and science if you want to teach primary).

You can do any subjects that are relevant to what you want to teach.

University degrees and graduates

You could do a further education (FE) teaching qualification, although this is not essential. Qualifications you could do include:

• Certificate in Education (Cert Ed)
• Postgraduate Certificate in Post Compulsory Education and Training
• Postgraduate Certificate in Further Education and Training

To teach an academic qualification like an A level, you’ll usually need a degree in the subject.

UCAS has more information on degree courses and entry requirements.

Apprenticeships

An apprenticeship is a scheme where you train while earning a starting salary. With an apprenticeship (or advanced apprenticeship) you’ll have a paid job with an employer that includes structured training and learning. This training leads to an official qualification that’s recognised by employers as an industry standard.

Anyone over 16 can study for an apprenticeship. You will normally need at least 5 GCSEs at grades 4-9 (A*-C) to study for an apprenticeship, including English and Maths.

You could do a Learning and Skills Teacher Level 5 Higher Apprenticeship.

You’ll usually need:

• a qualification in the subject you want to teach
• up to date experience in your industry
• ability in English, maths and IT

T-Levels

T-Levels are a choice for learners after GCSEs alongside apprenticeships and A-levels.

T Levels, an alternative to A-Levels, are qualifications in vocational, technical and hands-on subjects that you can choose to do after GCSEs instead of traditional academic qualifications.

They include a mixture of classroom-based learning and industry placements where you can put your new skills into practice in real-world scenarios.

A T Level in any relevant subject to what you want to teach will be useful.

• become a senior further education teacher, head of department or education programme co-ordinator

• become a training assessor or examiner
• write textbooks or online education resources

Work Experience Tips

It can help you decide if this is the right career for you if you have previously done work experience in a teaching environment. Work experience in an education environment can also help you build useful skills.

Examples of relevant work experience include:

• Work shadowing (even if it’s just for a day)
• Work placements in a company
• Work experience placements on a college or university course

Your application for this role is more likely to be successful if you already have experience of working with children and young people. As well as gaining work experience through childminding and similar roles, you could explore summer jobs where you might work with younger/older children, such as crewing at a holiday camp.

Your industry knowledge and experience will be most important! You could apply directly to work as a further education teacher if you have knowledge of your subject and experience in your industry. Some employers may want you to have a level 3 qualification in your industry.

Work experience tips

Volunteering Tips

Volunteering is a fantastic way to gain experience of working with young people, as so many volunteering opportunities can involve youth community work. When you volunteer with younger/older children you’ll need to get a DBS check to prove you can safeguard them appropriately. You’ll find it helpful to get some experience of working with younger/older children, though this is not essential.

It will be useful to get experience through paid work or volunteering at a school or college. Check with local schools in your area for opportunities.

Volunteering tips

Being a Further Education Lecturer is a flexible job and you can teach full-time, part-time or even on an ad-hoc basis.

You’ll have a similar role to teachers, meaning you’ll plan lessons, mark work, and do everything you can to help students learn in the best way for them.

Example daily job responsibilities:

• teach students of different ages, abilities and backgrounds
• develop learning plans, provide feedback to learners and prepare them for assessments
• plan and teach classes or practical workshops, using technology where needed
• support students and refer them to other services, such as careers advisers or counsellors
• complete admin, like taking registers and ordering resources
• follow safeguarding and health and safety procedures

To find jobs for young people in this role, search on jobs boards for early career roles and opportunities with keywords like ‘Further Education Lecturer jobs’, ‘college lecturer vacancies’ or the name of the subject you want to teach like ‘business teacher jobs’.

You can take a look at our database of local opportunities to see if there are any relevant jobs, work placements, or careers events and workshops to help you get started. Create Your Future!

Local Opportunities

Schools and colleges can be owned by private organisations or by local government, so many local councils recruit for teachers for schools in the county themselves.

You can use the government website to find education and teaching opportunities near you.

The Department for Education also provide information on the many routes you could take and hold events across the UK so that you can talk to those who work in education or training providers. It’s a great opportunity to explore the ways you can get a job in teaching.

Get Into Teaching

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.